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Pretty sure it was just fan speculation (I was one who thought it could be intentional) and TG was the one to set us straight.

I thought it was intentional as well. Iirc there was paint on the the "damaged" part of the crown making it look planned. Had it been broken one would've likely seen a paintless patch of resin. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Then again, I've had someone tell me that he personally heard from the 4H that the SDCC figure's crown was broken and the finished product would not look like a damaged crown.

The prototype's is slightly different than what was displayed at SDCC. If there is a missing adornment, the side it was on has been reversed. I'd have preferred a symmetrical crown, but I'm cool with King He-Man regardless of battle damaged crown or right and proper crown.

The prototype's is slightly different than what was displayed at SDCC. If there is a missing adornment, the side it was on has been reversed. I'd have preferred a symmetrical crown, but I'm cool with King He-Man regardless of battle damaged crown or right and proper crown.

You're right, the broken tip was on the other side.

"A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

Prototype - a figure sculpted by the Horsemen (or other sculptor) and hand painted and hand assembled. These are commonly broken by TG (Scott) at conventions during revealsTest Shot - a quick figure run testing the molds to ensure they work correctly. These figures are cast in colors not seen in the production run. Due to the start and stop of the process and how many figures can be made from each mold, there can be a bunch 50-100 of a Test Shot made.Unpainted sample - a run of the figures molds using the correct colors of the figure. Some of these are assembled prior to painting to ensure everything is still on the mark. Production sample - leftover figures from a run that never made it to the cardback. If 1000 figures are ordered by Mattel (Hasbro, etc) and the factory makes 1087 before the machines are shut down (to cover QA discards, etc). You can see some of these on ebay now (look for Fisto and Prince Adam with the TRU Skeletor sword). These are sometimes referred to as factory overruns.

These terms are based on knowledge I gained while working at the Fossil corporate headquarters (the watch company) and investigating G.I.JOE, Star Wars, and MOTUC figures sold from China/the Philippines etc. If I am wrong about any of this, please let me know.

Also, Please understand with the increased amount of collectors creating silicone molds of figure parts and casting their own figures, there is the possibility of "fake" products out there. But when you receive a figure of one of the types above (buying a cheap one first to check it out is recommended) you should be able to tell, based on comparison to the real production figure if it is fake or not.

That Skeletor looks like an unpainted sample with Zodac's armor (and incorrect feet). Has anyone scratched off paint on Zodac's armor to see if it is gray underneath? I thought mine looked painted (it's at home right now and I'm at work). Let me know!

I took the pics in my car as soon as I opened the box. This figure could be a QA reject because there is a small tear on the 'skirt' (bareley seen in this pic just to the left of his opened hand). He has a black spray of paint on him. I assume this is done to easily designate the figure is to not go any further in the the production process. His boots are a different shade of purple from the production figure, however I think the production figure has painted boots anyway.

I am going to try and use a magic eraser to remove some of the black spray paint. If successful, I'll clean the whole figure.

Here are the pictures of the Faceless One unpainted sample figure I received via ebay last week.

I am going to try and use a magic eraser to remove some of the black spray paint. If successful, I'll clean the whole figure.

I would not try to remove the black spray paint.
I've seen testshot-figures, that someone tried to clean from the black color. They looked awful, because the black paint remained in every small detail. And in my opinion: the black spray shouldn't be removed. It's a figure that was sprayed during the developement of the final figure. It is part of the development procedure and a part of the history of this character. Why "destroy" its special look with trying to change its look?
It's just my opinion, but These are the two reasons why I keep my figures the way they left the toy factory.

There seems to be a real slow down on the test shots of new figures. We haven't seen any for Karatti, the Fighting Foe Men, Octavia, Icer, Shokoti, Castaspella, New Adventures He-Man, Clamp Champ...all of which are package ready. I wonder if Mattel has been cracking down on the Chinese factories about reselling these?